Merry, merry Christmas

I'm probably one of few bloggers who are actually awake and posting on the actual day of Christmas. 

This is the first year that all three, especially Addyson, are SUPER excited about Christmas.  Last night after dinner and baths, the kids opened up one gift (a musical book) from grandma and grandpa, which kept them up a little later than normal because they HAD to have it in their beds.  The monkeys left cookies, milk, and carrots out on a plate for Santa and his reindeer along with leaving the fireplace open so Santa could get down, and make sure you don't light a fire or you'll burn poor Santa's booty.  The monkeys told George they were good all year, and that they would see him next year.  Finally, the five of us (oh, how wonderful this is) sat down to listen to daddy read, "The Night Before Christmas." 

Santa visited leaving gifts for all, and snuck in to leaving stockings full of gifts at the foot of their beds (except Santa had to come back to visit Addy, because she woke up during his first attempt). 

4 am Addy woke up screaming with excitement.  She sprinted into our room with her stocking.  She opened her gifts, and has no plans to go back to sleep.  Daddy is dozing, while Addy watches cartoons, and anxiously awaits for Eligh and Kinsley to wake up so she can open her gifts from Santa. 

This year is already GREAT.  Daddy is home to watch first hand his babies open their gifts and see their excitement and joy spread from ear to ear. 

May your day be filled with as much excitement and appreciation for what is most important, family. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Wowzers

I didn't tell you all, because I have this constant fear of jinxing things, because things don't always work out to our advantage.  Plus, battling infertility does not help with those fears either. But, Cody and I drove down to Missouri to check out a few houses.  Read through and take a guess as to which house we chose:

1st House:

• Pluses:  Under budget, newer (like a year old), has a huge 2 car garage with extra storage within the garage, a toy room, the garage is built into the ground as well as the toy room and our master area which would serve as a safe location during storms.  
• Downsides:  Closets are ridiculously small, no linen closet, and a 3 bedroom.  

2nd house:

• Pluses:  4 bedroom, a toy room, big master bedroom. 
• Negatives:  No basement/safe place, small living room, outdated kitchen flooring and counter tops.  

3rd House:

• Pluses:  Bigger 3 bedroom home, a movable island in the kitchen, big kids' bathroom with dual vanity, newer home, flatter backyard. 
• Downside:  No basement/safe place, no toy room, smaller master bathroom

4th house:

• Pluses:  HUGE master bedroom, bath, and walk-in closet, laundry room, 4 BIG bedrooms, toy room, extra closets
• Negatives:  Would have to paint master bedroom and bath (baby poop yellow is just not my thing), carpeted dining area (hello, three small children), and over budget. 

Answer is

House #1.  If you guessed house number 1, you may come to our new house and pick up any empty boxes you may choose from and have first dibs on that yard sale I'll be having this spring.  

Seriously, though, I'm all about being under budget, especially because it is a newer home.  The owners or agency builds and sells the majority of their homes, and are super sweet people vs. those bigger agencies.  I have a solution for the lack of closet space which they have cleared us to do- we are going to add an extra rack in the girls' room and the master bedroom.  I will use a storage shelving system (which I already have something in storage) in the master bathroom for the linen closet.  And, we move in 6 days.  Yes, just days after Xmas.  Which means, the kids will only open some of their gifts out of the box, and the bigger stuff (train table, ahem) will stay in the box until we move.  

Shoveling

There is something seriously wrong with me. 

I opted to shovel snow from the sidewalks and patio this morning, while Cody ran around pulling the kids' sleds. 

I honestly enjoy shoveling snow. 

I told you something is seriously wrong with me.

Who enjoys shoveling snow?

Maybe it has to do with my obsession with order and neatness? 

Maybe,

But, it still means I'm loony.

Time out chair or steps - not for this one

Kinsley is the child that will push every single button until I want to explode with anger, exhaustion, and laughter because seriously she couldn't be that defiant?  WRONG!  Everyone that "knows" Kinsley knows she is a rough and tumble girl, and has earned the nickname, Bruiser, from the playplace at the gym.  If she keeps this up, I know that I won't have to worry about her defending herself and possibly her siblings. 

This evening after dinner, she was sneakily escaping to the wash machine and dryer and playing in the baskets.  Not my stuff, but it does irritate others, so I try to make sure she stays out of the way.  I asked her if she wanted to go in the wash machine, and she laughed and shouted, YEAH! 

Since the washing machine was still wet from that previous load, I decided the dryer would be a better solution.  I placed her inside for 5 seconds, and no I did NOT close the door, and she was blotchy faced from crying and clung to me desperately as soon as she was out. 

So....I have finally found a form of punishment that scares this "Bruiser."  The simple words, "Kinsley, you want to go in the dryer?" causes this girl to freak out.

Victory is FINALLY mine over this tough cookie!

Friday Night Leftovers

• Addyson told me, "You are the best mommy ever!" several times in the past couple of days.  I wonder if she is trying to make sure she is on the "nice" list still.
• The kids and I truly enjoy the snow, but I DESPISE getting all three of them dressed to go play in it.  I have to hold back cuss words as I try to get the twins' little thumbs in the thumb hole of their mittens, and all of Addy's fingers into her gloves.  I bite my tongue, grit my teeth, and end up sweating by the time we get outside.
• I would rather spend 2 hours out in the snow than swimming with those three.  I'm all about wearing clothing that I can hide under, and it is so much easier to watch them as they stand out so well in the snow.
• Addyson insisted on helping me shovel the patio and sidewalks, which she actually did a GREAT job.  I just want to write this down so in about 10 years when I ask her to help I will remember that she actually enjoyed doing so.  She has no idea that she is getting her very own snow shovel from Grandpa and Grandma. 
• Either the kids are sleeping in, or I'm simply so exhausted that I don't hear them until 7:30. 
• The downside to waking up later, means I'm less motivated to go to the gym, which I'm still going but not as happily as before. 
• I have to threaten Eligh that he will NOT get to watch "Frosty" if he doesn't close his eyes and nap, and it works, but I have no idea what I'm going to do when winter passes. 
• Speaking of "Frosty," I am enjoying the break from his ridiculously annoying obsession with the monotone "Thomas" movies. 
• This past week I have found several possible rental houses, and many times when I call they are taken.  Update your damn website, please!  We have a handful of appointments made for the upcoming week, and let's hope one of them will be perfect and we can sign a lease and move sooner than later.
• On the moving front, found out that the Army decreased our allowance for housing by $21.  No, that is not a lot, but when you consider how little Cody is paid, then ever little penny counts. 

As always, check out the sarcastic, and always funny (no matter what she says) Danifred.

Meet George

Our little Elf on the Shelf has been a HUGE hit this year.  Grandma bought each family the book and elf this year for us all to start this new tradition with this clown looking creature.  He creeps me out, and yes, I'm assuming it is a he.  On the night after St. Nick visited the house and filled the kids' stockings, grandma read the story, introduced the elf, and explained what was going to happen.  I entered the picture when it came to naming the elf.  Addyson lacked ideas and simply wanted to call him "Elf" or "Hat."  Grandma and I started throwing out random names, and Addyson said, "How about George?"

I asked Kinsley and Eligh who simply shouted, "Yeah!!!!" and continued running round in circles. 

George is quite the character in this house.  He hangs from ceiling fans, stockings, gets inside of glass cabinets, such a silly little creepy elf he is.  If mommy forgets to fly the elf to a new destination, grandma is always on back up.  When grandma hides George, then mommy has to truly search with the kids after breakfast. 

All three of the monkeys rush down from their seats after breakfast in search for George and shout with excitement as soon as they find him. 

The threats of Santa not coming, seem to work, especially with Addyson. 

Addyson's problem these days is a sassy attitude and failure to listen.  When this occurs, I ask her if she would like me to talk to George and explain to him that Addyson is being sassy.  She immediately cries and begs me not to talk to George and says, "I don't want to be sassy, mommy.  Please don't tell George." 

Then there are those little behaviors that don't stop and I walk over to George and talk to him, and soon after Addyson runs to see George and apologizes. 

Kinsley is being her normal crazy self, and doesn't completely understand the concept of George.

Eligh, though, is starting to understand more than I thought.  The other morning Eligh stood looking up at George and said, "I'm a good boy, ok?"  It was the cutest thing ever, especially because he was holding his blankie in one hand and looked so serious. 

Shhh....

A couple days ago, I cut Kinsley some bangs, because the fly a ways were driving me crazy.  While I was at it, I trimmed up the back a tad as well, and guess what?  Yep, I totally forgot to save one piece of her hair as I did with the other two.  Three children do tend to suck the memory, thinking, you name it out of you. 

As you can see, I have not changed the blog up at all, as I haven't had much time to do any of that.  I've been spending my "free" time searching for houses, because we are moving very, very soon.  Wish us luck on finding something in our budget that will fit all of us and the ridiculous amount of stuff these three have. 

Family in Addy's eyes

All three of the monkeys were standing on a toy box looking out the window for the blow up tractor and Santa and were baffled to see that Santa was not blown up. We had to explain several times that it was too windy today for Santa, because he would simply blow away. Then, it turned into, Where is the reindeer? - which simply meant; where is the deer - like a real live deer running through the yard. (Yes, we do see deer from time to time.) I told the monkeys that the reindeer had to go home because it was too cold. Addyson went a step further and hinted the following: "Mommy, the reindeer went home to her mommy, daddy, her brother, and sister." Didn't you know that every single family is the same?

Who is mommy?

Now that the twins are speaking sentences, paragraphs, detailed explanations, and way too many questions, there are a lot more debates to be had between the three little monkeys. 

Kinsley has this habit of going around the room announcing the names of every person.  Tonight on our drive home in blizzard conditions the following occurred:
Kinsley:  "I Kinsley, that's Ewigh, that's Adsssin, and mommy."
Addyson:  "I'm a girl, Kinsley's a girl, Eligh's a boy, and mommy is a girl too.  Right?"
Mommy:  "Yes, that is right."
Eligh:  "No, that's mommy!  She is not a girl."
Addyson and Kinsley:  "Yes, she is.  Mommy is a girl!!!!!"
Eligh:  "No, she's NOT!"
Mommy:  "Hold on, hold on.  Eligh, what is mommy?"
Eligh:  "Mommy."
Mommy:  "Eligh, mommy is a girl and mommy."
Eligh:  "No, mommy, you are mommy."
Mommy:  "Ok, Eligh, I am mommy."

Some debates need to simply be left unsettled.

Dress Rehearsal

Dress rehearsal was a little bumpy, but I didn't see Addy except for when she was hamming it up on stage, so I didn't have the stress of keeping her entertained for 2 hours, it was someone else's job. 

First part of the video she is the 2nd from the left.  Second part of the video she is 2nd from the left (shorter one).  The girls in her class range from 3 -5 and you can tell the difference.

Oh, and I was trying to multi-task with taking pictures, so excuse how all over the place it is.

Whacker

My mind is a whirlwind with preparations for Addy's big show.  Tonight and tomorrow night we will need to eat dinner at 5 in order to have time to make my 3 year old look way too old (blush, make - up, mascara, loads of hair sprayed curls).  Tonight is rehearsals, thirty minutes before normal bedtime, until who knows when.  Then, tomorrow night we will do the same, but it will be the actual recital.  She is going to look all kinds of cute, and I just hope she gets up on stage and doesn't have a meltdown. 

In the meantime, while I'm running around stressing about making Addy look too mature, here are some funnies from the monkeys

• "Here's my whacker!!!!!!!!!!"
• "You are a pain in my butt!"
• "I have a big whacker!"
• "I done crying, mommy!"
• "Grandpa, I want to watch Santa Cause."  Gets out Santa Clause.  "No, Grandpa, I want Santa CAUSE, with the doggie."  (Santa Paws, not Santa Claus)
• "Where is George?" (They named their elf George - really creative children I have)
• "Kinsley, you are getting bigger.  You want to reach way up high and be bigger like me?"
• "You are ridiculous!"
• "I don't want everybody looking at me."
• "I want to calm down.  I don't want to clean-up any more, I'm sweaty."

Hola

Hi, and welcome! Don't you like that my blog title is now in my url? I do.

Like I said, I have loads of things to figure out here, and unfortunately the flu bug that has been in the house still won't leave. Guess what? It may be another week, thanks doc, I was hoping for some better news.

Moving

I am moving to a new blog.
1. I need a place that I can not stress about posting daily, because I'm all about saving money, not wasting it.
2. I want my blog address to reflect my blog title (even though it isn't exact, it is definitely much closer).
3. I'm following the trend of so many other established bloggers, friends, etc.
4. Why not?